Addressing Issues David Conrad Internet Software Consortium

Addressing Issues n Routability, hierarchical addressing, and address ownership n Address Scarcity n Allocation Policies n Static vs. Dynamic/Private vs. Global Addressing n Multi-homing and Virtual Hosting n Confederations/National NICs

Routability n The Internet is growing fast –Faster than router vendors can keep upgrading router technology (and keep router prices reasonable) n Every address allocated outside a service provider block must show up in the global routing tables –The number of entries in those tables are very limited –Every update to those entries must be propagated globally n Some service providers are filtering out smaller globally routed allocations –Smaller allocations affect fewer people and tend to “flap” more –If ISPs don’t filter, their routers melt

Internet Routing Table Growth

Hierarchical Addressing n The only way high performance large networks can get larger is if you hide information –Details always take time/resources to process n One way to hide information is to aggregate it –+65 aggregates all telephone numbers in Singapore –“Ulaan Bataar”, Mongolia aggregates all postal addresses in Ulaan Bataar – /22 aggregates all 1024 hosts from n Internet addresses are hierarchically assigned –Service providers get a block from a regional registry The ISP’s customers get address from that ISP block –The ISP customer’s customers get addresses from the customer block

Address Ownership n The problem with hierarchical addressing? –If a site changes providers, it should renumber out of the old provider’s address space into the new If not, the non-aggregatable addresses be treated the same as top level aggregated addresses –i.e., must show up in the global routing tables –This implies the service providers own the addresses not the customers n Renumbering can be expensive –Dynamic addressing can help

Address Scarcity n The Internet is growing fast –There are concerns that 4,294,967,295 addresses are not sufficient Especially given an average utilization < 1% –Some people think we have already run out of IPv4 addresses n However: –Only about half of the address space has been used –New technologies (NAT, ALG) reduce the need for addresses –As address gets scarcer, organizations will have incentive to use it more efficiently

Address Registry Policies n RFC 2050 documented address allocation procedures –Documents current practice Took two years to write Makes no claims whether current practice is a good idea or not n Policies documented by RFC 2050 were defined by the “Internet Community” –An uneasy balance between end users and service providers n Official authority is the IANA –But where does the IANA get its authority?

Static vs. Dynamic Addressing n Dynamic addressing –When dialing up to the Internet, addresses assigned when the modem connects –LANs can be configured so that machines get Internet addresses when they boot n Efficient use of address space –Only those machines on the net have addresses n Can be inconvenient n Static Addressing –Addresses are assigned to the user or the machine, regardless of whether it is connected n Can be convenient as Internet connectivity OK over physical disconnect/reconnect n Can be less efficient in use of address space –Particularly if users have multiple dialup accounts

Private vs. Global Addressing n Private addressing –Use of networks that cannot be routed on the Internet with address translation techniques to provide Internet connectivity n Very efficient –Only one Internet address necessary for an entire site n Controversial –Thought to break fundamental TCP/IP assumptions –Adds another point of failure n Global Addressing –Using normal Internet addresses n Can be particularly wasteful for sites which do not connect to the Internet or do so through firewalls –Don’t really need global addresses for this n Provide most flexibility in case site decides to connect to the Internet

Multi-homing n Multi-homing is defined as a single site having multiple connections to the Internet –Usually done for reliability reasons But may not offer the level of reliability thought n For multi-homing to be effective, addresses must be in the global routing tables –The less aggregated the address, the more likely it will still be visible if part of the network goes away –But, filters still apply...

Virtual Hosting n The WWW protocol (HTTP 1.0) is broken –Each web site requires an additional IP addresses, even though a single machine can host multiple web sites –Results in a single machine having hundreds or thousands of addresses n Fixed in HTTP 1.1 –But a lot of browsers won’t understand 1.1 for a while

Confederations/National NICs n APNIC and ARIN have an intermediate layer between the regional registry and the ISP –Confederations of service providers, perhaps organized by national boundaries (national NICs) n Can provide better local support –For the same reason the regional registries were created n Can contribute to the global routing load –Unless the confederations only assign to ISPs

Internet Protocol Version 6 n People were (are) very worried about running out of address space –2 32 just doesn’t go as far as it used to… n IPv6 fixes this problem and some others –128 bits of address space 340,282,366,920,900,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000+ possible addresses –Simplifies IP header, adds more easily processed options, includes “flow tags” n Prototype implementations available from most vendors –ISPs less than enthusiastic IPv6 does not solve routing problems

Summary n Internet Addresses are a critical resource managed via a hierarchy of allocation entities –ISPs are the normal allocators for most –Regional registries generally allocate to ISPs n Efficiency of use predominates concerns –Primarily due to routability requirements –Also concerns about availability of addresses n IPv6 resolves the availability issue –But doesn’t address the routability issue